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A little over a year ago, Cila Warncke knocked on our door just as we were setting up for Memorial Day wine tasting. She asked if she could interview us for a book she was writing about Oregon Wine Pioneers. Admittedly I was a little skeptical because we had already been solicited for several “book deals”, where we were expected to pay a hefty price to have our winery written about, and also I couldn’t imagine why she would consider us as Wine Pioneers. Mark however jumped at the chance to get a respite from housekeeping duties and gave Cila a tour of his true passion – our vineyard and winery.

When they returned Cila stayed for awhile and tasted our wines before leaving. Afterwards I asked Mark whether he thought she would really write a book and he said, “Who knows? But if she does, it will be great publicity for us.”

Well, long story short…she did write a fabulous book and the first chapter is about Bjornson Vineyard. Cila did an amazing job of capturing our story. Even after the book had been published, I still had trouble considering myself an Oregon Wine Pioneer. But then I started thinking. We moved to Oregon ten years ago with a dream of buying some land and planting a vineyard. Since then, we have cleared our land, planted the vines, learned to farm, made exceptional wine, and built a winery. Some of it was easy, a lot of it was really hard. All of it required courage, ingenuity and tenacity – attributes of any pioneer.

The last ten years in Oregon have been some of the most difficult yet satisfying years of our lives – a decade of discovery. Stop by this Saturday, November 21, 11-5 to celebrate this milestone, meet Author Cila Warncke for a book signing, and taste some amazing wines. We’d love to see you!